Secrets
by queerpoet
Summary: Reid helps Chris with his disease. My interpretation of upcoming spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Secrets 1/?

Author: Amber

Chapter Summary: Reid helps Chris with his disease. My interpretation of upcoming spoilers

Rating: PG-13

Reid let out an exhausted sigh of relief. Thanks to Luke's lessons, he had successfully navigated the hospital board meeting. He'd been both charming and competent.

So why did he feel so fucking frazzled?

Reid left the meeting room as quickly possible. He found a deserted alcove to hide in and leaned his sweating forehead against the wall. He closed his eyes.

_God damn you, Doogie. What the hell are you doing? _

The memory of Chris' awkward and labored presentation still made him cringe. Reid had sat in his chair, outwardly calm, as he observed Chris fumbling through his presentation. Reid noticed every wince from Chris. No one else in the room seemed to catch onto anything. Chris' hand ghosted to his chest before quickly going to his pocket.

_And they're all highly trained medical professionals._ Reid thought sarcastically.

After the meeting, the tension had been too much. He'd tried to corral Chris and check him out, but Chris had quickly vanished.

Now it was over. Chris was gone, stricken with a possibly fatal heart condition that, against all medical advice, he wanted to keep secret. Luke was surely roaming the halls, wanting to celebrate.

Reid couldn't believe his life.

He opened his eyes, and readjusted his suit. He left the alcove, and almost immediately lighted on Luke.

Luke flashed him the most beautiful smile, and ran towards him. Luke grabbed Reid's shoulders, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Oh my god, you did it!" he exclaimed. "I knew you could."

Reid sagged forward into Luke's embrace, trying to draw strength from him.

"Yeah," he managed. "We pulled it off. I can't believe it myself."

Luke pulled away slightly, and gave Reid a quick congratulatory kiss.

"We have to celebrate, Reid. What do you say, how about a night out?"

Reid blinked slowly, then remembered to grin.

"Sure, Luke. Whatever you want."

Luke stared at Reid, slightly concerned. "Are you okay? You're sweating." He felt Reid's forehead. Reid resisted the urge to bat it away. He wanted nothing more than to go home, cuddle with Luke, and forget the whole hideous day had ever happened.

"I'm fine." he answered gently. "Come on, let's get out of here."

He and Luke walked out the hospital, Luke's arm wrapped around Reid's waist.

"So Metro is having a dance night." Luke said, excited. "We should check it out."

"Just for a little while, okay? I'm beat."

As it turned out, Metro was the worst possible place to go. The throbbing lights gave Reid an headache, and in the corner, he spotted the erstwhile Chris.

Reid groaned inwardly. Chris looked worse than ever. Even from far away, he could tell Chris was about to pass out.

Reid could relate to that.

He extracted himself from Luke, kissing him deeply.

"Hey, will you get us some drinks? I need to talk to Chris about hospital procedure."

Luke furrowed his brow in confusion. "When did you start calling him Chris?"

Reid chuckled nervously. "We've been spending more time together. Whoever becomes Chief, we'll have to work with each other. It was time for an upgrade."

Luke stared at Reid as if he'd grown another head.

"Wow. Guess my lessons really did help you."

"You have no idea," Reid replied softly. He stared into Luke's eyes for a long moment. "I'll see you in a minute."

Luke left, and Reid immediately worked his way through the crowd to Chris.

Chris' face was flushed red, and he was beginning to hyperventilate.

Reid checked his pulse, and cursed.

"Your pulse is racing. We need to get it down _now,_ or you're gonna be a corpse."

Chris nodded fiercely. "I brought a sedative. It's in my back pocket."

"Well, come on then." Reid put an arm around Chris' shoulders, and guided him towards the bathroom. He couldn't help but remember how Luke had held him earlier in the evening, and felt a twinge of longing for his boyfriend.

He closed and locked the door, as Chris stumbled into the room. He collapsed against the wall.

Reid began to massage the carotid artery, while Chris got the syringe out of his pocket.

"Reid, here." he gasped.

He took the syringe, and rolled up Chris' shirt sleeve. He injected the medicine, and finally Chris' breathing began to relax. His eyelids flickered closed.

"Chris, stay with me." Reid said desperately. "I really won't be able explain this." He knew the man was simply deprived of oxygen; his heart rate had gone back to normal.

"Katie," Chris murmured. His head lolled to one side.

Reid slapped Chris lightly on the cheek.

"Think about Katie, Chris." Reid said. "You can't take care of her if you're dead. We gotta get you admitted. Chris!"

No response.

He rolled his eyes in frustration. "Doogie Hughes!" he barked. "Open your fucking eyes!"

Chris yawned, and looked up at Reid. "Oliver," he said. "What are you doing here? What happened?"

"I saved your ass." Reid growled. "It was great." He pulled the weakly protesting Chris up from the floor. "Come on, buddy. Let's get you home."

"Reid, are you crazy?" Chris snapped. "I can't leave. I'm supposed to meet Katie."

"I'll make excuses for you, Chris." Reid assured him.

They made it out of the bathroom, and Reid looked around for a back door exit.

"Is there a back way out of this place?"

"Yeah. It's right behind you."

"Okay, let's go."

Chris shrugged out of Reid's grasp, and led him out of the club.

"I'm feeling much better," he said over his shoulder. "Thank you."

"It's only a stopgap, you know that. You need to be admitted."

Chris turned to stare at Reid, eyes blazing. "Reid, how many times do I have to tell you? You can't tell anyone! I'm not one of those wilting flowers you can bully into submission. I can handle this on my own."

"Oh yeah, you're handling it great." Reid said sarcastically. "You gotta ask yourself one question, Chris. Do you wanna die now, or do you want my help so we can find a way to beat this thing? I perform miracles for a living, Chris. I may be a bastard, but I am an amazing doctor. Let me help you."

Chris clenched his jaw, and retorted, "I can't leave Katie alone. She's already had Brad die."

"Which is exactly why you need to get treated now!" Reid exclaimed. "I can give you a fighting chance, Chris. Without it, you will definitely die. Besides, you really want Katie to find you dead in a month with no explanation? She deserves to know, so she can help you get through this." He stepped closer to Chris, guiding him through the back door.

Chris made a fist, and punched his hand. "All right, Reid. You win." he gritted. "A private room. Completely off the books."

Reid grimaced, clicking his teeth together in frustration. "I can't promise that, and you know it. You want me to lose my license? What am I gonna say to Bob about the mysterious patient? We'll admit you under a pseudonym, but tomorrow you tell your family."

Chris smiled slightly. "You drive a hard bargain, Dr. Oliver. But you've got a deal." He held out his hand. Reid shook it firmly.

"We have to go now," he said. "You need an iv, and a prescription heart medication."

He and Chris walked to the hospital together in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2

Luke stared into his untouched soda sullenly. Reid had been gone more than an hour. His drink, jack daniels and coke, had dissolved into liquor-flavored water. Luke downed his soda in one gulp, then got up from the bar. He scanned the room, searching for Reid.

He didn't find Reid, but he did spot Katie across the room, looking forlorn. He began to make his way through the crowd, but was stopped when he felt a hand grab his elbow.

He turned to look at the person, and rolled his eyes when he was saw it was Alison. He hadn't seen her in weeks, but he was too distracted for chitchat.

"Alison!" he said, hugging her. "How are you? Did you hear the good news? Reid blew his presentation out of the park."

She flashed him a nervous grin. "Yeah, I heard. Listen, you got a minute? I just got off the phone with Noah. He's got some big news."

Luke gritted his teeth, and tried to find some patience for her. His mind danced with thoughts of Reid working himself to the bone on his celebratory evening.

"Look, Ali." he said bashfully. "That's great, but I really can't talk right now. Reid's been wrangled into some hospital thing with Chris, and I need to find him. He shouldn't be working on his big night."

"Noah's moving to LA next month." Alison said quickly. "He wanted to tell you himself, but thought it would be awkward. He got a scholarship to UCLA, a full ride."

"Alison, oh my god! That's incredible. I'm so happy for him. Give him my best, will you?" he hugged her again, and then quickly darted away to approach Katie. He could feel Alison's quivering gaze boring into him, but didn't care. Alison had always one of the biggest champions of Luke and Noah's relationship. What did he have to do to convince Oakdale he'd moved on?

"Luke!" Katie said. "How did everything go?"

"Well, Chris bombed it," he said honestly. "But Reid was amazing. Calm, and charming. But Katie, have you seen Reid? We came here together, then he saw Chris and left me hanging. Is there anything going on at the hospital?"

Katie shook her head, brow furrowed into confusion. "No, I just got here. I saw Reid and Chris headed to the men's room. Chris didn't look so good. I haven't seen them since."

Luke felt the beginnings of suspicion prick his mind. "I thought he said acid reflux was bothering him, but that was last week. Can acid reflux last for so long?"

Katie shook her head quickly. "Luke, that's just the thing. Chris' initial story never made any sense. We were about to - " she blushed cutely. "you know, have sex, and then bam! Chris passes out, and stops breathing. When we got to the hospital, he gave me about fifteen different excuses for why, but none of it seemed severe enough to cause him to stop breathing."

A cold chill hit Luke. He took Katie's hands, and squeezed. "Katie," he said somberly. "What if Chris is really sick? Do you think Reid would -"

"Absolutely," Katie interjected. "You know, I went to pick up Chris at the hospital yesterday for lunch. I interrupted him and Reid in a meeting. Reid kept talking about these patient with a fatal condition, who needed more diagnostic tests. It was weird. He was so personally invested in the patient." She gasped loudly, and put her hand to her mouth. "What if it's Chris? Chris could be dying, Luke!"

Luke hurried to reassure her. "We don't know anything yet. Let's go to the hospital, okay? You can ask Chris yourself."

Katie nodded, tears welling up her eyes. "All right," she said tremulously.

Luke's phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, and stared at the text message. "It's Reid," he said.

"What does it say?"

"At hospital. Emergency. Meet you at Katie's later. Love, Reid." Luke whispered. He smiled slightly at the way Reid treated every text like a letter.

She grabbed Luke's shoulders. "Emergency! Luke, it's Chris. I know it is!"

Luke nodded. "We have to get over there. Chris needs you."

"And Reid needs you," Katie responded. "My car's outside. Come on."


End file.
